Apple, Microsoft in tight earnings race this week

Well, for a business journalist like me, about three months ago. But hey, I’m talking about you.

It’s earnings week for Apple and Microsoft, perhaps the two most-watched high-tech names in the stock market right now. Apple will announce announced killer third-quarter earnings this afternoon (see below) and Microsoft will report fourth-quarter and FY2010 earnings Thursday.

Analysts expect Microsoft to bring in $15.27 billion, or 47 cents per share, for the quarter ended June 30. Meanwhile, the consensus for Apple was revenue of $14.75 billion, or $3.11 in earnings per share.

But, as Fortune noted this weekend, Apple surpassed Wall Street expectations by more than $1 billion three months ago. It could happen again — the highest revenue estimate for Apple is $15.74 billion. The exact same goes for Microsoft: $15.74 billion.

Update: Apple on Tuesday blew past Wall Street expectations Tuesday, reporting quarterly revenue of $15.7 billion — a 61 percent jump over the year-ago period. Once again, it beat the consensus estimate by more than $1 billion. Fiscal 3Q net income jumped 78 percent year over year. A full report is here.

So, the bar for Microsoft is $15.7 billion Thursday for fourth-quarter earnings. Microsoft also will report earnings for its entire fiscal 2010 — expected to be good thanks to the October release of Windows 7, which catapulted the Redmond company to record revenue and profit in the second quarter.